Endpointing for focused ion beam processing

ABSTRACT

To expose a desired feature, focused ion beam milling of thin slices from a cross section alternate with forming a scanning electron image of each newly exposed cross section. Milling is stopped when automatic analysis of an electron beam image of the newly exposed cross section shows that a predetermined criterion is met.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/766,953, filed Jan. 13, 2016, which will issue as U.S. Pat. No.10,204,762 on Feb. 12, 2019, which is a § 371 National Phase Applicationof International Application No. PCT/US2012/046975, filed on July 16,which disclosures are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to charged particle processing and inparticular to a technique for automating a charged particle beamprocess.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As nanotechnology produces smaller and smaller circuits and otherelements, it becomes more difficult to produce and manipulate thenanometer scale objects. While it is known that it is desirable toautomate nano-processes, the precise nature of those processes makesautomation difficult, if not impossible for many processes.

The line widths of features achievable in semiconductor processing aresignificantly less than 100 nm. To control critical processes duringfabrication, it is necessary to observe and measure the results of thoseprocesses. Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) are used to observemicroscopic features, but as the feature size of fabricated structuresdecreases, the resolution of SEM is insufficient, and it is necessary toobserve defects on a transmission electron microscope (TEM). While a SEMcan observe a feature on a thick work piece, to observe a sample on aTEM, it needs to be thinned to less than 100 nm so that electrons willtravel through the sample. It can be exceedingly difficult to thin asample to less than 100 nm while ensuring that the feature that requiresobservation remains in the sample and is not milled away in the thinningprocess.

An operator will typically observe the sample as it is being thinned,stopping regularly to observe the sample to see whether or not thefeature is exposed for observation. When the feature to be observed isexposed on the surface, then thinning is stopped. This can be very timeconsuming and labor intensive. Moreover, the results are inconsistentfrom operator to operator because the decision of when to stop issubjective.

U.S. Pat. Pub. 2010243889 of Farber et al. describes a method ofendpointing when forming a lamella for viewing on a transmissionelectron microscope. In accordance with Farber, secondary particles arecollected as the ion beam thins the lamella, and the image formed fromthe secondary particles is used to form a rough image of the crosssection. The image is rough because the ion beam impacts the lamella ata glancing angle, and because the secondary particles from deep in thetrench are not detected as well as the secondary particles from higherup in the trench.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to facilitate automation of chargedparticle beam, nanoscale processes.

To expose a surface showing features meeting a predefined criterion infocused ion beam (FIB) milling, a thin portion of the sample is milledand an electron beam image of the exposed surface is analyzed. If theexposed features do not meet the criterion, another slice is milled fromthe surface and the newly exposed surface analyzed to determine whetheror not the exposed features meet the criterion. The process is repeateduntil the desired face is exposed or a predetermined number of sliceshave been performed.

The predefined criterion may be defined by a geometrical relationshipbetween exposed features, such as a distance between lines, an angle, ora relationship between lines or angles. In some embodiments, the imageis automatically analyzed to identify edges in the image. The edgesdefine a feature that is measured to determine whether the milling iscomplete.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of the present invention in order that the detaileddescription of the invention that follows may be better understood.Additional features and advantages of the invention will be describedhereinafter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatthe conception and specific embodiments disclosed may be readilyutilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures forcarrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should alsobe realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalentconstructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the inventionas set forth in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more thorough understanding of the present invention, andadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a charged particle beam system that can be used toimplement the invention.

FIG. 2 show is a flow chart showing the steps of an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3A shows a cross sectioned writer pole being prepared in accordancewith the embodiment of FIG. 2. FIG. 3B shows a top down view of a writerpole before cross sectioning or TEM Preparation.

FIGS. 4A-4E shows several iterations of milling the writer pole of FIG.3 in accordance with embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5A shows a contact feature and FIGS. 5B to 5E show a sequence ofcross sections of the contact feature; and

FIG. 6 shows a menu from a system used to implement an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a systemdetermines when to stop milling by determining whether a criteria ismet, the criteria being based on a measurement from an edge determinedby edge recognition software.

Applicants have found that in some applications, conventional imagerecognition software is inadequate for endpointing of FIB milling.Conventional image recognition scores a current image relative to astored reference image with regard to two primary conditions: imageuniqueness and contrast. The best scoring reference image is chosen asthe “recognized” image, and acted upon.

A preferred embodiment uses image recognition software for grossdetermination of the endpoint, and then uses a dimension determinedusing edge recognition for fine endpointing. Edge recognition is simplerthan image recognition and looks at the contrast of the pixels in animage and determines an edge by a change in contrast. A smoothingfunction is typically applied to produce a smooth curve corresponding tothe edge. After edges are recognized, geometric relationships betweenthe edges, such as distances or angles, can be determined and used toevaluate the image to determine when to stop milling. The processprovides a closed loop feedback, in which after, one or more fine millsteps, the dimension is checked to determine whether or not to ceasemilling.

In some applications, the invention is used to determine when to stopthinning a lamella being prepared for viewing on a transmission electronmicroscope. A process for forming a lamella is described, for example,in U.S. Prov. Pat. App. No. 61/649,917, filed May 21, 2012, for“Preparation of Lamellae for TEM Viewing” which is assigned to theassignee of the present invention and is hereby incorporated byreference. In the prior art process described in U.S. Prov. Pat. App.No. 61/649,917, thinning is performed by the ion beam, using either afiducial or an edge of the lamella itself as a reference to determinethe placement of the beam for the final cut. This beam placement is notsufficiently accurate in some cases to stop the milling at the desiredlocation, which may be determined by the exposure of a feature in theface of the cross section, rather than by a thickness of the crosssection.

FIG. 1 shows a typical ion beam system, focused ion beam (FIB) system10, suitable for practicing the present invention. FIB system 10includes an evacuated envelope 11 having an upper neck portion 12 withinwhich are located a liquid metal ion source 14 and a focusing column 16including extractor electrodes and an electrostatic optical system.Other types of ion sources, such as multicusp or other plasma sources,and other optical columns, such as shaped beam columns, could also beused, as well as electron beam and laser system.

An ion beam 18 passes from liquid metal ion source 14 through ion beamfocusing column 16 and between electrostatic deflection plates meansschematically indicated at deflection plates 20 toward sample 22, whichcomprises, for example, a semiconductor device positioned on movable X-Ystage 24 within lower chamber 26. A system controller 19 controls theoperations of the various parts of FIB system 10. Through systemcontroller 19, a user can control ion beam 18 to be scanned in a desiredmanner through commands entered into a conventional user interface (notshown). Alternatively, system controller 19 may control FIB system 10 inaccordance with programmed instructions.

For example, a user can delineate a region of interest on a displayscreen using a pointing device, and then the system could automaticallyperform the steps described below to extract a sample. In someembodiments, FIB system 10 incorporates image recognition software, suchas software commercially available from Cognex Corporation, Natick,Mass. to automatically identify regions of interest, and then the systemcan manually or automatically extract samples in accordance with theinvention. For example, the system could automatically locate similarfeatures on semiconductor wafers including multiple devices, and takesamples of those features on different (or the same) devices.

An ion pump 28 is employed for evacuating upper neck portion 12. Thelower chamber 26 is evacuated with turbomolecular and mechanical pumpingsystem 30 under the control of vacuum controller 32. The vacuum systemprovides within lower chamber 26 a vacuum of between approximately1×10⁻⁷ Torr (1.3×10⁻⁷ mbar) and 5×10⁻⁴ Torr (6.7×10⁻⁴ mbar). If anetch-assisting gas, an etch-retarding gas, or a deposition precursor gasis used, the chamber background pressure may rise, typically to about1×10⁻⁵ Torr (1.3×10⁻⁵ mbar).

High voltage power supply 34 is connected to liquid metal ion source 14as well as to appropriate electrodes in ion beam focusing column 16 forforming an approximately 1 KeV to 60 KeV ion beam 18 and directing thesame toward a sample. Deflection controller and amplifier 36, operatedin accordance with a prescribed pattern provided by pattern generator38, is coupled to deflection plates 20 whereby ion beam 18 may becontrolled manually or automatically to trace out a correspondingpattern on the upper surface of sample 22. In some systems thedeflection plates are placed before the final lens, as is well known inthe art. Beam blanking electrodes (not shown) within ion beam focusingcolumn 16 cause ion beam 18 to impact onto blanking aperture (not shown)instead of target 22 when a blanking controller (not shown) applies ablanking voltage to the blanking electrode.

The liquid metal ion source 14 typically provides a metal ion beam ofgallium. The source typically is capable of being focused into a subone-tenth micrometer wide beam at sample 22 for either modifying thesample 22 by ion milling, enhanced etch, material deposition, or for thepurpose of imaging the sample 22. A charged particle detector 40, suchas an Everhart Thornley detector, a continuous dynode electronmultiplier detector, a multi-channel plate detector, or a solid statedetector is used for detecting secondary ion or electron emission isconnected to a video circuit 42 that supplies drive signals to videomonitor 44 and receiving deflection signals from system controller 19.In some embodiments, secondary electrons are attracted from the sampleback up through the primary electron lens, and then deflected off theoptical axis for detection.

The location of charged particle detector 40 within lower chamber 26 canvary in different embodiments. For example, a charged particle detector40 can be coaxial with the ion beam and include a hole for allowing theion beam to pass. In other embodiments, secondary particles can becollected through a final lens and then diverted off axis forcollection. A scanning electron microscope 41, along with its powersupply and controls 45, are optionally provided with the FIB system 10.

A gas delivery system 46 extends into lower chamber 26 for introducingand directing a gaseous vapor toward sample 22. U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,413to Casella et al. for “Gas Delivery Systems for Particle BeamProcessing,” assigned to the assignee of the present invention,describes a suitable gas delivery system 46. Another gas delivery systemis described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,850 to Rasmussen for a “GasInjection System,” also assigned to the assignee of the presentinvention. For example, iodine can be delivered to enhance etching, or ametal organic compound can be delivered to deposit a metal.

A micromanipulator 47, such as the AutoProbe 200™ from Omniprobe, Inc.,Dallas Tex., or the Model MM3A from Kleindiek Nanotechnik, Reutlingen,Germany, can precisely move objects within the vacuum chamber.Micromanipulator 47 may comprise precision electric motors 48 positionedoutside the vacuum chamber to provide X, Y, Z, and theta control of aportion 49 positioned within the vacuum chamber. The micromanipulator 47can be fitted with different end effectors for manipulating smallobjects. In the embodiments described below, the end effector is a thinprobe 50 having a tapered end. The thin probe 50 may be electricallyconnected to system controller 19 to apply an electric charge to theprobe 50 to control the attraction between a sample and the probe.

A door 60 is opened for inserting sample 22 onto X-Y stage 24, which maybe heated or cooled, and also for servicing an internal gas supplyreservoir, if one is used. The door is interlocked so that it cannot beopened if the system is under vacuum. The high voltage power supplyprovides an appropriate acceleration voltage to electrodes in ion beamfocusing column 16 for energizing and focusing ion beam 18. When itstrikes sample 22, material is sputtered, that is physically ejected,from the sample. Alternatively, ion beam 18 can decompose a precursorgas to deposit a material. Focused ion beam systems are commerciallyavailable, for example, from FEI Company, Hillsboro, Oreg., the assigneeof the present application. While an example of suitable hardware isprovided above, the invention is not limited to being implemented in anyparticular type of hardware.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an example of the invention, in which alamella is automatically thinned until a predetermined condition is met.In step 200, the user defines a criterion for ending milling based onwhat the user is trying to observe. For example, the milling may beended when a particular dimension is maximized or when an edge makes apredetermined angle. The user can designate the edges to be detected andthe dimensions to be measured using a system such as that described inU.S. Pat. No. 8,095,231 to Tasker et al., for a “Graphical automatedmachine control and metrology,” which is assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention and which is hereby incorporated by reference. Taskerdescribes a graphical programming system that allows a user to placegeometric shapes onto a scaled image, the shape having associatedbehavior that operates on the image or on the object of which the imageis formed. The shapes are dragged from a stencil onto an image providedby an ion beam or an electron microscope. The shape invokes software orhardware to locate and measure features on the image or to performoperations, such as ion beam milling, on the object that is imaged. Thesystem is “trained” on an image similar to the image that the userexpects to find when the cross sectioning is complete. For example, FIG.3A shows an expected image of a writer pole 302 for writing to amagnetic medium, such as a hard disk, and angle shapes 304A and 304Bthat a user has dragged onto the image from a stencil. Angle shapes 304Aindicate that the system should detect lines 306 and measure the anglebetween the line and the top surface. Angle shapes 304B indicate thatthe system should detect line 310 and measure the angle between the lineand the top surface. Dimension shape 316 indicates that the systemshould measure the length between where lines 310 and 318 intersect thetop surface. The magnification of the electron beam or ion beam image isknown, and so the dimensions can be calculated by their sizes on theimage.

The angle 304B between line 310 and the surface is not constantthroughout the writer pole. FIG. 3B shows a top view of the writer pole,with the dotted line indicating the FIB cut slice through the writerpole. When a cross section or lamella face of the writer pole of FIG. 3Bis imaged at a 45 degree tilt, the image of FIG. 3A is observed. As thecross section or lamella surface face is advanced through the substrate(perpendicular to dotted line), the angle 304B changes. In one example,the criterion for stopping milling is when angle 304A and 304B are equalin the exposed cross section. FIGS. 4A-4E show the progression of theangle 304B with subsequent slices milled from the cross section. Theangle 304B gets progressively closer to the angle 304A, until in thefinal image of FIG. 4E, lines 310 and 306 are parallel to each other. Ifthat was the specified criteria, then milling is ceased at that point.

FIG. 2, step 202, shows the region containing the feature of interest islocated using indicia visible on the surface of the sample by imagingthe surface with an optical microscope and/or a scanning electronmicroscope. In step 204, the user verifies that the feature meetscoarse, top down measurement requirements, that is, the feature top downheight and width are deemed useful for recipe to continue. In step 206,a protective layer is deposited over the top of the region of interest.

In step 208, a lamella is formed by bulk milling trenches on both sidesof the region of interest to leave a region about, for example, 500 nmthick. Pattern recognition and calipers applied to a fiducial, typicallywithout closed loop feedback, are used to accurately place mills. Thepattern recognition and caliper software are sufficiently accurate toplace bulk mills, but are insufficiently accurate to determine cutplacement location when performing final thinning.

After bulk milling is completed, the lamella is made thinner withsuccessively smaller FIB beam currents in step 209. Final thinning, onboth sides of lamella, is typically performed using “box mill” asillustrated in step 210. During a “box mill” the ion beam is raster orserpentine scanned left to right to form a line, then advanced forward.After the area (box) is complete, the beam is returned to the start ofthe pattern (lower left corner) and the mill pattern is repeated. Thisrescanning of pattern occurs multiple times and is critical to cleaningthe face of the lamella and minimizing mill artifacts (eg.,redeposition). After milling is complete, an image of the cross sectionface is formed in step 212 by an electron beam, typically oriented at anangle 45 degrees to the cross section face. In step 214, edgerecognition software finds edges in the electron beam image. In step216, a calculation determines one or more dimensions using therecognized edges.

In decision block 218, the system determines whether or not thedimensions meet the criterion from step 200. If the dimension criterionis not met, milling is continued with step 210. Each subsequent millremoves a small amount of material from the face of the cross section,moving progressively deeper into the sample. In some embodiments, thebeam is moved preferably less than 50 nm, more preferably less than 10nm, more preferably less than 5 nm and even more preferably less than 3nm or less than 1 nm into the cross section face. The cross section faceis imaged with the electron beam after each mill. When the dimensioncriterion is met, milling is stopped. In some embodiments, the thicknessof subsequent slices is determined from the image. That is, if the imageindicates that the cross section is near the desired point, smallerslices are milled. The cross section surface can then be analyzed inmore detail in step 220. For example, if the sample was being preparedfor viewing on an SEM or TEM, the sample can then be viewed.

FIG. 5A-5E shows another example of a use of the invention. FIG. 5Ashows a contact feature 502 and conductor 504 in a semiconductor circuit506. In this example, it is desired to stop milling when the diameter ofa contact feature 502 is exposed in the cross section. In FIG. 5B, thecross section face cuts through the circular pad near the edge of thepad, exposing a small portion of the contact feature 502. As subsequentmills cut further into the feature, more of the feature is exposed asshown in FIG. 5C until the cross section is at the center of the featureas shown in FIG. 5D. Subsequent milling will then expose less of thefeature. Ideally, milling would be stopped at the depth shown in FIG.5E. In practice, it is necessary to mill slightly beyond maximum featureexposure to determine when the maximum feature expose was reached. Forexample, milling can be stopped when the portion of the feature exposeddecreases by a few percent in a subsequent mill.

FIG. 6 shows a menu 602 used on a Dual Beam system to perform milling inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The menu showsthat “automated” is selected, which means that the user specifies aformula that is evaluated to determine the subsequent operation. Theformula is shown in box 604, and the menu indicates that the formula isevaluated after the procedure, that is, after milling with the FIB andimaging with the SEM. The formula in the embodiment of FIG. 3, forexample, would determine whether the difference in angles 304A and 304Bis less than a specified value. If the formula evaluated to “true,” thatis, if the angles are nearly equal, the system executes “chapter.2”which corresponds to ceasing milling. If the formula evaluated to“false,” that is, if the angles are not nearly equal, the systemexecutes “chapter.3” which corresponds to another iteration of milling,imaging, and evaluating the formula. Menu 602 shows that the sequencewill stop after 7 iterations, even if the formula still evaluated to“false.”

Embodiments of the invention allow a user to cross section a smalldevice without human control. The absence of human control minimizeshuman error. Some embodiments of the method improve yield and throughputby using closed loop feedback to control FIB milling. Generally, themethod also allows the user to control FIB mill cut placement bymonitoring critical dimensions (CDs) with a SEM. When desired CDs areobtained the FIB mill is stopped. In addition to using CDs, someembodiments permit FIB control via SEM image pattern recognition tocontrol mill placement. The SEM image can be compared real time to areference SEM image. When the images match (or meet a specified logiccriterion associated with the reference image (ego contrast and/ornumber of pixels) as determined by a scoring algorithm, the FIB millstops; otherwise it continues.

Fabricating a lamella for viewing on a TEM typically takes between 30minutes and 2 hours. If the ion beam mills too far into the lamella, thefeature of interest can be destroyed, which not only wastes thepreparation time, it also destroys a sample that may be criticallyimportant to solving a line yield fabrication problem.

While the examples above show the invention used for endpointing duringTEM sample preparation, the invention is also useful in preparing across section for observation in an SEM or other instrument. The term“cross section” is used broadly to include a cross section exposed in aportion of a sample, such as for SEM viewing, or any thin sample such asfor TEM viewing, whether a cross section or a planar view sample.

Although the description above describes embodiments related topreparing cross sections/lamellae to observe designed structures forprocess control, other embodiments are used to prepare crosssections/lemellae of defects for observation. Because the size, shape,and location of the defect is typically not exactly known, endpointingcan consist of comparing the SEM image of the cross section/lamella faceto a known good cross section/lamella face, and ceasing milling when theimage deviates from a reference image or meets a specific pixel/contrastsignature.

The term “feature” as used herein can mean not only a structure, but thearrangement of a structure in a cross section.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, mattercomposition, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture,matter composition, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized according to the present invention.Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within theirscope such processes, machines, manufacture, matter composition, means,methods, or steps.

We claim as follows:
 1. A method comprising: milling, by an ion mill, aface of a sample to remove a layer of material, the sample including oneor more features, the one or more features having edges; imaging, by acharged particle beam, the face of the sample; determining, based on theimage, a geometric relationship between one or more edges; comparing thegeometric relationship between the one or more edges to a criteria, thecriteria specifying when at least one of the features is exposed; andbased on the comparison being unsatisfied, milling, by the ion beam, theface of the sample to remove additional material.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the geometric relationship is based on a distance between atleast two edges.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the criteria definesa target distance between the at least two edges.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the geometric relationship is based on an angle of at leasttwo edges.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the criteria defines areference angle for the angle of the at least two edges.
 6. The methodof claim 1, further including defining the criteria based on the one ormore features.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sample is alamella.
 8. The method of claim 1, further including defining thecriteria based on one or more geometric shapes.
 9. An apparatuscomprising: an electron beam column coupled to provide an electron beam;an ion beam column coupled to provide an ion beam; a controller at leastcoupled to the electron and ion beam columns; and a computer readablemedium storing code that, when executed by the controller, causes thecontroller to: mill, by the ion beam, a face of a sample to remove alayer of material, the sample including one or more features, the one ormore features having edges; image, by the electron beam, the face of thesample; determine, based on the image, a geometric relationship betweenone or more edges; compare the geometric relationship between the one ormore edges to a criteria, the criteria specifying when at least one ofthe features is exposed; and based on the comparison being unsatisfied,mill, by the ion beam, the face of the sample to remove additionalmaterial.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the geometricrelationship is based on a distance between at least two edges.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein the criteria defines a target distancebetween the at least two edges.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9, whereinthe geometric relationship is based on an angle of at least two edges.13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the criteria defines a referenceangle for the angle of the at least two edges.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 9, further including code that, when executed by the controller,causes the controller to: define the criteria based on the one or morefeatures.
 15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sample is a lamella.16. The method of claim 9, further including code that, when executed bythe controller, causes the controller to: define the criteria based onone or more geometric shapes.